Delta College police see crime uptick

STOCKTON - After 22 years patrolling San Joaquin Delta College, police Sgt. Mario Vasquez knows who belongs and who doesn't.

Alex Breitler

STOCKTON - After 22 years patrolling San Joaquin Delta College, police Sgt. Mario Vasquez knows who belongs and who doesn't.

The young man slinking past the Locke complex - carrying no backpack, but wearing a long black coat on a 95-degree day - does not belong.

Vasquez, standing nearby, calls out to him with the usual questions: "Are you a student?" followed by "Are you on parole?"

Answering "no" to both, the stranger claims he is here to sign up for classes - more than a month after the fall semester has started.

The sergeant has heard that one before, so he asks more questions, and the man finally admits that he is carrying a grinder used to crush marijuana. In his pockets Vasquez finds two baggies of pot, apparently packaged for sale.

"Got anything else on you?" Vasquez asks.

The random lunchtime encounter ends with the latest arrest on Delta's campus. The college's tiny Police Department reports more than 100 arrests in 2012, more than any year since 2007.

While this particular crime is relatively minor, higher-profile incidents include four attacks in building stairwells and Delta's first gold-chain robbery, a growing trend in surrounding Stockton. The crimes, well-publicized through social media, have shaken up some members of the campus community.

Delta has been, and remains, one of the safest places in town, Vasquez says. The college has never had a homicide despite its location smack in the middle of one of California's most dangerous cities. Students are far more likely to experience bike theft than battery, and the increase in arrests might be because people are being more vigilant.

Still, Vasquez says the brazen crimes of late would not have occurred in past decades.

A "bubble" of safety still protects Delta, he says, but that bubble is being pushed and prodded by Stockton's criminal element.

"It's tough," Vasquez says. "This is an open campus. There are no walls. And the reality is that across the street, crime is rampant."

As his boss, Director of Police Services David Main, puts it, "This is not our mom and dad's campus anymore."

To explain the problem, Vasquez drives to a parking lot near the new student services center on the east side of campus, then walks toward the college quad on a path crowded with both students and nonstudents.

The distinction is important, because nonstudents account for about 75 percent of this year's arrests, Vasquez says while scanning the faces of passersby.

Some wander over from the malls across the street. Others arrive via the bus stop along Pacific Avenue.

Once in a while, a criminal from surrounding neighborhoods darts onto the Delta campus in an effort to blend in and disappear. Indeed, while Delta remains relatively safe, the online tool crimemapping.com reports 214 crimes within a one-mile radius of where Vasquez is standing - and that's just since the start of fall semester Aug. 13.

Police have been more aggressive with visitors who have no business at Delta, so Vasquez tells them to move along.

It is noon, the peak of activity for the day and perhaps the most dangerous time. Police realize this; students don't. Vasquez points to all of the people walking by themselves - potential victims, as he sees them.

Consider the recent crimes. In one case, a woman walking down the stairs in Locke in April was approached from behind by a man who grappled with her. Police classified the case as a sexual battery.

A few days after the fall semester started on the crowded campus, a woman walking up a stairwell in the Shima building about 2 p.m. was approached from behind by a man who tried to yank her purse away. She fell down several steps and hit her head.

Most recently, two people followed a student into a bathroom, flipped off the lights and snatched a gold chain from his neck. In a somewhat unusual twist, two fellow students were arrested in that case.

Police put news of the attacks on Facebook. Social media outreach may be part of the reason the level of concern has increased, Vasquez says; students are hearing about crimes they might not have known about before.

As if to reinforce his point, student Jay Gray of Stockton approaches, asking Vasquez about the recent attacks.

"Every time I open the email, someone's getting robbed," Gray says.

Police say it's worth the concern to get the information out.

The struggle to protect the campus with a 24/7 police force of nine sworn officers continues. The college has labeled the stairways for added safety, and is working to improve the lighting and possibly repaint to make the dark passages less ominous.

Meanwhile, new non-sworn personnel are expected to be hired in the near future to help the officers, Vasquez says. The hiring was planned, but has been accelerated in light of recent events.

As for the students, perhaps it's telling that the exhibits at a student-government fair last week included a merchant selling personal defense items such as pepper spray.

"That was arguably the most popular table," student leader Bronche Taylor said.